WESTBURY, N.Y. -- Shannon Jenkins
Shannon Jenkins may have gotten a lot of the accolades for
changing his proverbial racing address in the 2001 season, but one must not
forget the other half destined to reap the benefits from the former World
Champion's decision.

Mike Castellana, who owns the Awesome Motorsports team, can only smile when
he envisions a 2001 season with the veteran racer known as "The Iceman"
serving as his teammate. The Westbury, NY.-based, supermarket chain owner
knew after a lackluster 2000 season that he needed to up the ante on his race
team.

That's when Castellana's luck began to change, despite the rough times that
he was entangled in. He was leasing a motor from Jenkins, yet other problems
were plaguing him. It was the increasing competitiveness of the class that
forced him to take inventory of what was transpiring around him. He was also
confused with the direction of his race team. He'd even contemplated going
the supercharged route.

Mike Castellana

"Basically, during the course of the year, I began to seriously take notice
of the class and how it was getting tougher and tougher to remain in
competitive status," explained Castellana. "I felt like because of my own
situation as a business owner, I am always busy working and unable to devote
as much time to my racing as I would like to. There's just not enough hours
in the day to do what is needed to do to remain in the competitive loop."

Castellana knew that the only way for him to remotely have a chance in the
rapidly progressing Pro Modified division was to bring in Jenkins and afford
him the opportunity to exercise his vast knowledge of the nitrous
combination.

"It was the best method for me to insure my position in the top half of the
program," added Castellana. "Plus, we have to look at the value of having two
cars within the same class. That's the trend in the upper classes and I knew
it wouldn't be long before it had the trickle down effect in this class. It's
a no brainer that two cars are better than one."

The duo provides the ultimate combination of both sides of the Mason-Dixon
line. There was no long-term plan for the duo to unite other than Castellana
just letting the defending World Champion know that if he ever wanted to join
up with him that the opportunity was there during the season. Castellana
admits that he didn't want to upset any existing program that was in place
for Jenkins. He was just merely getting in line for future endeavors.

"I didn't want it to be a matter of me stepping on anyone's toes or pulling
him away from anything," explained Castellana. "I just wanted to get in line,
if he ever did become available. People are going to think what they want to
think, but that's the truth. I just wanted him to know that there was an open
door for him over here. It wasn't a deal with who reached one or the other
first. It just kind of worked out."

The newfound alliance has already produced results as evidenced by his stout
qualifying performance and quarter-final finish at Rockingham's rescheduled
CARQUEST Autumn Nationals. Jenkins was not driving and had time to devote to
Castellana's racing operation in the capacity of crewchief.

"I think it all worked out well," Castellana commented. "We started with a
new car at mid-season and we had problems. We decided to stick with and get
it ready for next year. He worked with us to get it to running right."

Rendering of Jenkins' new ride.

So of all the cars available, how did they come up with the 1968 Camaro
recently revealed in a Greg Ozubko rendering?

"I basically left that up to him," confided Castellana. "We liked the '57
Chevy and he liked the Camaro, I put that decision in his hands. We did want
to stick to a nostalgia car, that was a must. There's not a lot of Chevrolet
Nostalgia machines available, so we had to make a decision based on that."

Castellana revealed that the new Tim McAmis-built machine would be available
for them by the end of December. He expects the team to do an extensive
amount of testing at the Houston, Phoenix and Darlington test venues as well
as making an appearance at the CompetitionPlus.com Spring Open at Virginia
Motorsports Park located in Dinwiddie, Va., during the weekend of March 8 -11.

"We fully expect to be at Rockingham when we are running at full potential,"
explained Castellana. "Shannon has a few things that he wants to try and we
want to be running at 100%. We're not looking to come out behind the eight
ball. We're looking to come out on top."